April Showers
by Doorhandletable
Summary: Sasuke and Sakura shelter in a cave with their newborn. (blank period)


"You think we should move her further away from us? What if we roll over during the night and crush her?"

Sakura frowned as she looked over at her three day old daughter, who lay dozing on Sakura's own sleeping roll, wrapped up in Sasuke's cloak.

Their daughter had been born two weeks early, before Sasuke and Sakura had a chance to buy necessary baby supplies. They had picked out a town that they knew had a large and well-staffed hospital. They had been planning to travel there, buy everything they would need for the baby, and wait out the rest of the pregnancy. When Sakura's waters broke in the middle of a forest, all they had on them was a few baby clothes and an infant sling they had been given as a gift from the grateful parents of a little boy Sasuke had rescued from a blizzard.

On a whim, Sasuke had taken her to one of Orochimaru's hideouts that he had known was nearby, where Karin, his old teammate, helped them bring their daughter into the world. It was not the ideal birth that Sakura had planned in her head, but her daughter arrived safely and that's all that really mattered to her.

Karin had found some towels in the hideout for them to use as temporary diapers, and they had wrapped Sarada in Sasuke's cloak to help keep her warm when she was born. Sarada had ended up growing attached to it. Sakura had tried wrapping her in towels, pillow cases, her own cloak, and even Sasuke's old poncho, but nothing calmed Sarada like her Papa's black cloak.

"She'll be fine, Sakura," Sasuke assured her, though not without shooting a worried glance down at his sleeping daughter.

Sasuke and Sakura had left the hideout that morning, now accompanied by a tiny newborn girl. They had chosen to wait a few days before they left, enough time for Sakura to recover from the birth. As brand new parents, they were rather overprotective. Their cherubic little daughter was so small and so delicate that they were terrified that the slightest bump could hurt her. So they had chosen to walk to their next destination, rather than run or fly via susanoo.

In the early afternoon, they had settled down by a river so that Sakura could feed Sarada. They had just finished putting Sarada back in her sling when it started to rain. It was just a light rain, at first, and Sasuke produced a susanoo arm to use as an umbrella to keep his wife and daughter dry.

But then the rain started coming down harder and harder, they were forced to take shelter. That was how they had ended up in this cave, listening to the sounds of thunder and pouring rain as they lay awkwardly huddled together on Sasuke's sleeping roll.

With Sarada occupying her own sleeping roll, Sakura had no choice but to share with Sasuke, though it was hardly the first time. They had done this frequently throughout their travels. Sakura had grown accustomed to falling asleep to the sound of Sasuke's heartbeat, though they had stopped this practice a few months ago, after Sakura's belly got too big for them to share the small space comfortably.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Hm?"

"I think we should start thinking about heading back to Konoha."

Sasuke shifted so that he was looking down at her.

"Are you sure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura knew why he was surprised. He had been the one to suggest that they return to the village back when Sakura first got pregnant, but she had refused. There was still so much of the world that she wanted to explore, and she knew that she would probably never get the chance again. When she returned to the village, she would go back to work in addition to taking care of Sarada, which left little time for her to have adventures.

"Having a baby on the road is a little more difficult than I was anticipating," Sakura admitted. "And I'm dying to introduce her to Ino, and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei too. And my parents. Who knows what they're going to say when I come back married with a baby."

A look of sadness crossed Sasuke's face and Sakura immediately felt a pang of guilt for mentioning her parents. Was Sasuke thinking about how his own family would never be able to meet his daughter? It wasn't the first time she had seen that look on his face in the past few days.

Sasuke had been in the room when she gave birth, though he had stood quietly in the corner until Sarada was safely lying in Sakura's arms as he didn't want to be a distraction to her and Karin. Sakura suspected he was also keeping his distance to protect his one remaining hand from being crushed by Sakura's super strength grip.

Sakura would never forget the way that Sasuke looked at Sarada the moment he held her for the first time. It was the look of shock as he finally realized that he had managed to create another human being. But there were other emotions in there too. Happiness, as he realized that he was no longer the only blood Uchiha left in the world. Love, as he realized that their child was the living embodiment of the bond that he and Sakura shared. And sadness, as he realized that Sarada would never get the chance to meet his side of the family.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura began, as she wrapped her arms around his middle. She opened her mouth to say more, but nothing came out. She wanted to say something comforting, but nothing she could think of seemed appropriate.

"It's time to sleep now, Sakura," Sasuke said, brushing her off. He didn't want to talk about it now.

Sakura frowned but she didn't argue. They both needed to get some sleep before Sarada woke them up demanding to be fed, changed, and cuddled.


End file.
